Joint forces of Australian and American marine biologists are trying to locate Cook's Endeavour. The combined mission is being launched to try to find the last resting place of the famous ship HM Bark Endeavour, a naval refitted Whitby coal ship commanded by Lieutenant James Cook on his first voyage of discovery to Australia and New Zealand. The 1769 to 1771 ocean trip credited Cook with becoming the first European to chart Australia's east coast—a remarkable feat of navigation. Having no charts, Cook sailed an unwieldy vessel north into a minefield of coral and the ship ran aground on Australia's Great Barrier Reef during the historic voyage to the South Pacific to observe the planet Venus. The crew repaired the hull before sailing on. In 1972, I visited Cooktown in Queensland and camped on the rise above the safe harbor where the ship was repaired. I can imagine the heat would have been hard to endure so close to the equator. Years later, marine archaeologists believe the Endeavour was scuttled off US waters during the Revolutionary War.

www.australiangeographic.com.au

An archive search in 1998 came across evidence that the roughly 100-foot Endeavour was part of a fleet of 13 ships that the British scuttled during the Revolutionary War in 1778 to blockade the port, listed under a different name, the Lord Sandwich. However, the wreck might not remain in place. Sections of the wreck might have been salvaged soon after, or destroyed over the years by ship anchors. The joint team hope to find the remains at the bottom of Newport Harbour, Rhode Island. The Australian National Maritime Museum want to be part of the recovery team, hoping it will be located before the 250th-anniversary celebrations of Cook's voyage in 2020.

www.ourpacificocean.com

A history professor at the University of Sydney, said Cook is considered the founding father of European-settled Australia, where England eventually set up a penal colony. But the country's indigenous people consider Cook to be the first invader, and his landing ended their freedom and way of life. The Australian aboriginal people were innocent and open to accepting new people. There will always be those who take advantage of others. Whatever the rights and wrongs of past actions, wars, invasions etc., we have no choice but to move on and learn from the exploits. The same circumstances are happening around the world right now. These are actions we can try to influence.